Barb met with us at the Arena and with all her years of involvement within the Kerrisdale Figure Skating Club, here is just a snippet:

"In the late 1980's Dr. (Helmut) May was involved in setting up a sports school..."

The office of the Kerrisdale Figure Skating Club

Barb dressed perfectly for a day at the Arena!

A cool vintage Kerrisdale Figure Skating Club sweater from the 1960's!

Paul lived in the Kerrisdale community from 1963 - 1973 and although humble, he was quite a good hockey player at that time. Here are his memories and memorabilia.

"In beginners [hockey] it was a $5 registration fee, paid to the Kerrisdale Community Centre, and you were registered for a year! That was pretty reasonable...AND that included your helmet!"

A Vancouver journalist and historian emailed us about his own research in regards to the history of the Kerrisdale Arena. He met with us and shared what he learned and his own personal connection to the place...

"I grew up about four blocks away from the Arena and spent the first 25 years of my life in Kerrisdale, attending Quilchena Elementary and later Point Grey Highschool - so the rink was always a bit of a fixture in my days growing up there.
I remember very well how crazy it was when those concerts happened. There was real pandemonium some nights. And In so far as the concert history of Vancouver goes, those events were really unique. Beyond the fact that The Clash came to Kerrisdale (which alone is rather remarkable), but a number of people who worked putting on those shows went on to be very large players within the international concert industry. It’s quite something."

We talked to Sylvia over the phone about an event that lasted over 40 years at the Kerrisdale Arena...

"It was really about community, it was completely volunteer run and in fact it gave me the inspiration for my volunteerism that continues to be an important part of my life!"

Margot can often be found at the Kerrisdale Arena, and although President of the Arena's own Figure Skating Club for 26 years, her childhood was also busy with, you guessed it, skating!

"...everybody belonged to the skating club..."

We talked to Tom over the phone and he shared memories of hanging out in back of the Kerrisdale Arena around 1976.

"Vancouver had a small time sensibility at that time...."


Tom from Kerrisdale Arena on Vimeo.

"When I was a child, from the ages of 8-12, I took figure skating [at the Arena], and as

a teenager I loved to go on the Friday nights and skate, that was a big deal, they had lots of great music..it was a great way to meet boys!

Later, I took my daughter to figure skating too, which she hated, but my son loved skating and he played on the hockey teams.

My friends and neighbours all took there kids to the arena so the mothers would all sit together and talk while the kids were getting their figure skating lessons. It was nice."

Sandra from Kerrisdale Arena on Vimeo.

"My kids went down to the Arena and I used to go 
down to the Arena. 

I always remember how wonderful it was that we had an ice rink here in the area.

We use to go every week because we just lived down the street, it was great having it so close!"

"What I’ve done at the Kerrisdale Arena was watch my grandson,

Spencer Becker, play hockey, and that was for at least 2 or 3 years.

So I enjoyed the experience of watching,

that was a very positive experience for him… and for me!"

"My association with Kerrisdale Arena goes back 45 years! There used to be a wonderful adult skate on a Tuesday night and all the singles would come out - men would skate, women would skate and then we would get together and we would do 'crack the whip'- you can't do that anymore!"

"I went to BCIT in the 1970's and BCIT, CBC, CKVU and BCTV...we all had hockey teams, so we had these games at Kerrisdale Arena...and BCIT beat them all! So I associate Kerrisdale Arena with TRIUMPH! Now I come here 5 days a week and skate 40-50 minutes, I need to do something for exercise and my knees can't take jogging, but I can skate! There are lots of fun people who come out and I have great conversations - I am loving Kerrisdale Arena!"